


The Future

by FuckMeGentlyWithAChainsaw



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Anxiety, Hurt/Comfort, Jack Zimmerman is a sucker for cute little shits, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-06 23:27:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10346979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuckMeGentlyWithAChainsaw/pseuds/FuckMeGentlyWithAChainsaw
Summary: Various One-shots about our boys and their post-canon nonsense in no particular order





	1. The Future

“Sweetheart, I swear, I am fine.” Jack looked over his kitchen counter once more. 

“Are you catering something?”

Bitty rolled his eyes and continued mechanically weaving the lattice on the 6th pie he’d made since he arrived. Maybe 5th, but Jack would put money on there being one in the oven too. “No,” he answered finally. 

“Did someone die?” Jack asked, “Did 5 of our friends have babies and nobody told me?” He leaned back against the cool steel of the fridge and waited for a response. This didn’t happen often, not for Bitty. But it happened enough and he knew that Bittle was not fine. 

Bitty finished the elaborate crust and laid it over what looked to be strawberry filling. “No.” He said again. 

“So you’re stress baking?” Jack suggested. 

“Maybe.” 

He was always so stubborn, but Jack continued anyway. “Do you need anything?” He wouldn’t ask if Bitty wanted to talk, because he wouldn’t. He couldn’t ask what was wrong, because Bitty would say nothing and insist that he was fine again.

Finally, Bitty stopped, leaning heavily on the kitchen counter in front of him. “I don’t know,” he replied, taking a deep breath. “Everything is a lot and I needed a distraction, but…so I don’t know.” 

Jack nodded, “Start with a hug?” Bitty nodded so he stepped forward and engulfed his boyfriend in a way that he knew made him feel safe and loved and gave him whatever he needed right now that he couldn’t quite put into words. After a few long moments, and a tight squeeze, “wine?”

“Yes, please.”

That took them to now, with Bittle tipsy and flushed, tucked into his side and still managing to gesture so wildly that Jack had started to worry about him spilling wine on the carpet he’d loved so much when he insisted that Jack had to have it just a few weeks ago. 

“Everyone is graduating and I’m an American Studies major. American Studies, Jack Zimmerman, do you know what kind of jobs there are outside of academia for American Studies majors? None. I have worked for three years and I’m going to have to move out of the Haus and under a bridge because I decided to officially be an American Studies major.”

Jack kept his face even, repressing a smile, determined to be supportive. “Bits you know you’re not moving under a bridge after graduation. You’re always welcome here. I asked you to move in with me when I got the apartment, remember?” 

Bitty took a large gulp of his wine which had Jack glancing back at his fridge wondering if he should pull out the second bottle now. For all his ranting, Bitty still seemed like he needed it. “And what am I going to do? Sit around? Bake pies while you’re an NHL superstar? Jack, I’d die.” 

“You’d die?” Jack asked, failing momentarily to hide his smile. 

“Don’t you dare chirp me” Bits replied, gesturing dangerously with his glass that was still full enough to slosh dangerously. “What am I going to do?”

He asked so weakly that the situation turned from amusing to heartbreaking in no time at all. Jack plucked the glass from Bittle’s hand and set it on the coffee table and pulled him closer. “Bits, look at me.” He waiting until the smaller boy looked him in the eye, not entirely shocked to find them shining with tears. Wine drunk Bitty was a crier, but he was also warm, and cuddly, and eager to talk about anything that was bothering him. “Bits, you’re going to be fine.” Jack said slowly, “You can stay here and do whatever you want for as long as you want and because you’re a talented, intelligent person, you’ll figure out exactly what you want to do, and then you’ll be great at it.” 

“Really?” Bitty asked. 

Jack nodded solemnly, “yes, really. I promise.” He let Bitty clumsily plop onto his lap and wrapped his arms around him, entirely unsurprised by the wetness he felt in the crook of his neck where Bitty had buried his face. 

“I love you.” Bitty choked, and again, Jack struggled not to laugh. His boyfriend was completely ridiculous. 

“I love you too.”


	2. Tagging In (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 of 2 The Zimmerman-Bittle children are a delight when their Dad is there to keep them in line. When Bitty needs a break, they give their Papa hell, but he loves them anyway.

Jack Zimmerman loves his children. He has loved Charlotte since she let out her first wail and he held Bittle back from bursting into the room while their surrogate was still exposed. He loved her when she cried for almost two days straight because she caught a cold that she couldn’t kick and he loved her when she gave him her hellish cold and he was benched for two consecutive games during the first round of that year’s playoffs. 

Two years later, he saw a young woman, 17 and already exhausted, touring the adopting agency where they were meeting a representative about the Falconers sponsoring an event for the older kids who were still in foster homes. He didn’t know that he loved Mia when he talked to her birth mother and found out that she was working too long and too hard for her age and wanted to go to law school or when he wrote that girl a check that left her speechless for ten minutes before she tried to give it back. But when the adoption agency called and said that a baby had been left at a local hospital with his name attached he couldn’t say no. When Bittle felt her weight in his arms and saw her pink squished face, he couldn’t say no either.  
And five years after that he loved his son just as much. But right then, just in that moment, Jack wasn’t sure he liked them very much.  
\-----------------  
Bitty had called him three days ago, excitedly showing Jack Nate’s first tooth, just barely visible as he babbled softly. Each call after that Nate was screaming and Bitty was looking a little worse for wear except as Jack walked in the door after a week on the road, he doesn’t think anyone in the house got much sleep since he last said goodnight at their Family Facetime on Monday and Bitty probably wasn’t “just fine, honey”.  
Nate was screaming when he walked in and followed his wails into the kitchen where Bitty was clearly trying to stress bake except Nate was slung across his chest shrieking and he had dark purple bags under his eyes and looked like he hadn’t slept in a week. 

“Bits?” Jack asked, setting his duffle on the floor by their kitchen table. Bitty looked up, quickly wiping a few stray tears from his cheeks before Jack rounded their island and pulled him to his chest. 

“Hi,” Bitty said, offering little more than a shaky, watery smile. 

“Hi,” Jack replied, “I love you and I’m taking the baby.” Bitty nodded and Jack untied the sling and tucked Nathan against his shoulder so that he was screaming in his ear instead of his husband’s. “I’m officially tagging in.” He said, pressing a kiss to his forehead and for a moment he was afraid Bittle would fall asleep right there when his eyes fluttered closed. “Go take a bath and go to bed, Bits.” 

Bitty nodded, heading up the stairs and only pausing to shout, “Girls, Papa’s home,” before he disappeared into their master bedroom. 

His announcement was followed by the distinct rumbling of little footfalls followed by twin shrieks of “Papa!” and before he could properly pull Nate out of the sling Charlie and Mia were slamming into his legs with a speed that surely would’ve crippled anyone who wasn’t on a professional athlete’s training schedule. 

“My God, there’s no way you two are so big. I’ve only been gone a week.” The girls giggled and Mia was standing on his left foot and squeezing his hips to hold herself in place and Charlie had already run behind him and jumped onto his back using is calves to parkour up to his shoulders where she hung with her arms around his neck. He glanced at the clock. It was 4:15 and he’d been home for five minutes. Nate was still screaming.


	3. Surprise?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Jack Laurent Zimmerman, you did not."

Jack shifted in his seat at the kitchen counter. Bitty would be home soon and he was nervous, very nervous. This was their apartment after all, he’d said as much. He tried to make it as clear as possible that this was as much Bitty’s as it was his. And then he’d gone and made a major life decision without consulting anyone. He was never this impulsive. Ever. He let his bare foot dangle in front of the small kennel on the floor under his stool. He heard keys jingle and the lock click, the door was half open and he still had no idea what he was going to do. How he was going to explain what he was thinking. 

“Jack, I’m home. Your text was very cryptic and I have no idea what Marty is chirping me about so I am….” He trailed off when he saw Jack standing awkwardly in front of the counter. “…confused. What’s going on?” Jack opened his mouth to speak, but ‘what was going on’ beat him to it with a sharp yip. Bitty dropped his bag on the ground in the middle of the floor. “Jack, Laurent Zimmerman, you did not.” 

Jack nodded with a grimace, “I did.” 

Eric crossed his arms, “Well, let’s see it.” Jack had already gone down an anxiety spiral and built up this scenario to be wildly explosive in his head, so this was all going much better than he’d expect. Then again, most things did. He ducked behind the counter and opened the small kennel, fishing a bit before he could get a firm grasp on the pup. He cradled the wiggling ball of fluff. He cradled it close to his chest and stood up.   
“Um, Marty’s dog got out a couple of months ago and then the neighbor’s husky had puppies that looked a lot like…and…he brought just, like, a box of puppies to morning skate to see if anyone wanted— So, yeah. That’s what happened.” 

Bittle crossed the kitchen the scratch the puppies ears and let it nibble at his fingers before he said anything else. “Jack, Marty’s dog is huge.” 

Jack grimaced again, shifting the puppy in his arms, “Yeah. Apparently the neighbor’s dog isn’t exactly small either.”

Bittle kept running his fingers through the thick black fur. “So this isn’t gonna be a little fella, huh?”

“No, she’s probably going to be large. Really big. Is that okay?”

Bitty didn’t respond right away, and Jack backtracked frantically. 

“I mean, I obviously can take her back to Marty, or find her a new home. I’m sorry I didn’t call you but you were at work and…it just sort of happened. But I can, Bits, I can take her back—“

Eric shook his head, a smile playing at his lips. “No you can’t, Jack, you’re gone on this little girl already.”

Jack tried to argue, “No. This is a huge commitment and I should’ve asked you first, Bits so if you don’t want---“

“What’s her name?” Bittle interrupted. 

Jack paused, “I’ve had her for an hour, Bits. I didn’t….” he trailed out as Bitty fixed him with that look. “Marie. Her name is Marie.” 

Eric sighed and rolled his eyes. “Okay, well I guess we have a puppy then.” 

Jack froze, “really?”

Bitty walked back to the doorway to get his bag and started unpacking his things, “Yes, Jack. I’m not a monster, but I am not cleaning up after her while you’re at home and if she isn’t housebroken by your next roadie you’re taking her with you.” 

“Yes. Okay. Deal.”


End file.
